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Hot Rod Era Arc
The Hot Rod Era Arc is the twelfth story arc in the series and the second in the National Champion Road Saga. Makunouchi Ippo goes to Kimura Tatsuya's house where he learns from him and Aoki Masaru about their past. Aoki and Kimura reveals their delinquent past to Ippo, where they would get into fights, start their rivalry with Takamura Mamoru, join the Kamogawa Boxing Gym, and fight in their debut match. Later, the JBC featherweight champion Sendō Takeshi has his first title defence against Ippo's past opponent, the "Speed Star" Saeki Takuma. Summary The 80's - A Delinquent Past At the Makunouchi Fishing Boat, Umezawa shows Ippo all the magazines of his comeback match against Ponchai he bought in excitement, which has more coverage about the mic performance when Sendō requested a rematch than the actual match. Umezawa points out how Ippo's face is not beaten up, however Ippo believes that won't be the case again when he fights Sendō, but Umezawa tries to clear his worries by noting that he has his Dempsey Roll. After Umezawa leaves, Ippo is surprised to see Takamura in the room, not knowing he was there for a while. With Takamura bored, he looks at a picture book called "memories", which contains pictures of Ippo when he was at school. Takamura notices a female in a picture, who Ippo remembers as "Aikawa", who was the first female in class to talk to him. Takamura then discovers dried up leaves which crumble in Takamura's hands, making Ippo angry as those leaves were the ones he caught in order to become a boxer. The two leave Ippo's home and goes to Aoki's house. Takamura finds an album there, which has a picture of Aoki and Kimura when they were at school, causing Ippo and Takamura to laugh at their past appearances. After Ippo and Takamura makes Aoki mad, the three go to the Kimura's home, where the three discover from his mother that he has a fever. When the three go to Kimura's room and see a depressed looking Kimura, Aoki tells Ippo and Takamura that Reiko brother another man with her to see Kimura's match, but Kimura claims that it is fine. Ippo sees an Arowana, which Kimura deems his pride and joy. Kimura tells Aoki that he decided that he does not need a woman, as he believes that men who fight for themselves are the strongest. Takamura finds an album with pictures of Reiko in it, asking Kimura if he can do anything he wants with them. When kimura claims he is over her, Takamura proceeds to take the pictures out for himself while Ippo points out that the fish is acting weird. Kimura discovers that Ippo fed the fish his aspirin. As the fish appears to die in front of Kimura, he cries out it's name as "Reiko", causing Kimura to beat on Aoki, wondering why they came to his house. Ippo shows Aoki and Kimura an album of themselves in their school days, asking them how they were back then and how they decided to start boxing, making Aoki remember how Kimura was a poor motorcycle driver and Kimura remember Aoki's ferocity and messing with his testicles. Five years ago, Aoki and Kimura were delinquents from the south high, picking fights with other schools. One of Aoki and Kimura's targets were the "Famires" group from the Imanishi North High School. When the delinquent duo arrive to the Riky's, they start a bloody brawl with the Famires, defeating all six delinquents before driving away (and falling off the motorcycle) when the police are called. When the duo returns to school, other people at the school call them the "Invincible Pair" due to their recent brawl. Kimura expressed his concern about getting expelled from school, however Aoki saw getting expelled as a way to have more time to make a gang. Miyuki praised Aoki for taking down the group from north high and requested guys for him to beat when he has free time. Kimura drove off, thinking that being strong in a fight won't help him if he dropped out of school, wishing to do something great that would get him recognised by everyone. Kimura then met former classmate from middle school, Kamiya, who settled down and joined a karate dojo. Kamiya warned Kimura that he had heard rumours that the north high has someone strong helping them out since Kimura and Aoki beat up the Famires. Kimura then drove away, wanting to warn Aoki. Encounter With Takamura Aoki entered the Game Land arcade and noticed someone from north high playing a game. Aoki smashed the north high student's face through the screen and kicked him to the ground, expressing his determination in exterminating anyone he sees from north high. When the student, who turned out to be Takamura, stood back up, he quickly defeated Aoki with a headbutt, Powerbomb, and a German Suplex. Kimura returned home after looking for Aoki and discovered a group of twelve north high students outside his home. The north high students began destroying his mother's flower pots for her store side of their home and one student slapped her face. This caused Kimura to be outraged and began brawling against the twelve, however, it ended with him being brutally beaten and seeking revenge, and his mother's shop destroyed. At school, Aoki, wearing a neck brace, was flustered as he heard negative comments about him during school, not wanting to end it like this. Later, Aoki and Kimura were told by fellow classmates to not ask them to go to the north high, as they are not strong enough against them and Aoki and Kimura got injured. Aoki and Kimura angered, proceeded to beat the students. Their actions caused them to have a meeting with the school's counsellor where he suggested them to study independently. The two then decided to quit school, breaking the counsellor's windows before leaving the building. In the school's parking lot, Aoki decided to talk to Miyuki before he left, only to discover her kissing another man. Aoki attempted to hit her, however, couldn't bring himself to do it, as he was really in love with her and was worried that someday she would leave him. Aoki and Kimura then decided to go to the Imanishi North High School to get revenge. The two called out for revenge, which caused a large group of students to come out. Wanting to get to Takamura who defeated Aoki out, the two decided to brawl the group to find Takamura. Instructed by Kamogawa to walk Takamura home so he does not get into another fight, Miyata waited near the school's gates. When Takamura, who just quit school arrived, he heard sounds of people fighting. Miyata tried to stop Takamura from going towards the scene, however, Takamura arrived and saw Aoki (who he remembered from the arcade) and Kimura getting beaten up by a large group of students. The north high students stop when they see Takamura, who caused the group to flee. Angered that Takamura stopped their fight, Kimura rushed towards him, but was stopped by Aoki, who wanted to fight Takamura as that was the reason he came there. Miyata attempted to stop Takamura from wanting to fight, however, Takamura decided to break his promise of not using his fists in the street as he took off his school uniform and revealed a muscled body which Kimura realised he must be a fighter. Wanting to be someone to beat a goal into the two, Takamura defeated both Aoki and Kimura. When they got up, they decide to cut loose, leaving the north high students alone, but wanting to face Takamura again, with Aoki wishing to hit Takamura at least once, willing to challenge him a hundred times if he has to. Boxers Kimura searched the Monthly Boxing Fan magazine to find Takamura and discovered that he is in the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. When the duo arrived and saw Takamura through the window, they entered the gym. Due to their poor manners and hairstyle, they were kicked out by Kamogawa until they changed their hairstyle. After cutting their hair at the Cut House Barbershop, they become a member of the Kamogawa gym. For the next three months, they began doing chores for the older members and doing roadwork with Takamura and Miyata, unable to keep up. Aoki and Kimura started learning basic techniques and soon wondered if they could land a hit on Takamura yet. Then, standing in the ring was Takamura, who invited the duo for a spar. Takamura quickly defeated Aoki and Kimura, which caused the two to train and to spar against him every day. When they started to think they have not improved since they started, they noticed Takamura using a towel to wipe off sweat, something he had not done before after fighting them. This made them train with confidence, and later, they finally managed to land a scratch on Takamura's face, making them excited. Eight months since becoming a member of the gym, Aoki and Kimura were informed by Shinoda Tomoyuki that they would be an undercard for a Japanese bantamweight title match. When the day of their debut match arrived, Aoki was nervous in the waiting room while Kimura was nervous while standing in the ring. When the gong rang for Kimura's match against Hotta Junichi, Kimura was caught off guard as his head was turned away from his opponent. quickly going down. Kimura manged to survive the first round, however, Kimura was too nervous and unable to listen to Shinoda's advice or Aoki. Takamura then yelled at Kimura, asking him if he wanted to go back and play with himself all day. This caused Kimura to go back to his senses, claiming that it was Aoki that did that. Kimura then displayed an out-boxer's footwork, dodging punches and eventually knocking his opponent out with a counter, winning his debut match. Aoki then won his debut match against Yamanaka Hiroshi, as Kimura wondered when the last time he looked at people in appreciation, looking back on how they used to despise the world, and now they can never stop boxing. After getting congratulated by Miyata for their debut match victories, Aoki and Kimura realised that they won, feeling more victorious than when they won a street fight. Kimura wondered where they would be if they never met Takamura and started boxing. When Takamura and Miyata approached them, Aoki and Kimura could not look Takamura in his eyes, unable to express their thanks for bringing them into boxing and making them stronger. Takamura then made comments about their match, making them angry and vowing to box until they defeat him. In the present, Ippo realises that people start boxing for different reasons and when they start, they can never stop. Ippo then asks when Aoki and Kimura actually landed a hit on Takamura, which makes them hit Ippo as they never landed one. Takamura jokingly tells them that they can try to hit him now, causing Aoki and Kimura to hit Ippo again as it was his fault for bringing it up. Ippo stops the from hitting him by pointing out that Reiko is still alive as Kimura looks into the fish tank in joy. JBC Featherweight Title Match - Sendō Takeshi VS. Saeki Takuma In Osaka, Kamogawa and Yagi watches Sendō's first title defence against Saeki Takuma, shocked with how much Sendō is overwhelming Saeki. Sendō quickly defeats the Speed Star in a round one knockout, defending his title for the first time. Navigation Category:Story Arcs Category:National Champion Road Saga Arcs